Abstract

This paper first provides evidence of a U-shaped relationship between education and migration among Mexicans. That is, by comparing cohorts of Mexicans who migrated to the US with the same cohorts residing in Mexico it is shown that the highest and lowest educated tend to migrate more than the middle educated. A model is presented that is capable of reproducing this relationship. The model assumes that individuals are endowed with heterogeneous levels of human capital. These levels are determined partly by an intergenerational transmission from their parents and partly by an investment on education also made by their parents. Migration decisions are driven mainly by two forces. On the one hand, there is a progressive loss of human capital faced by immigrants, due to its imperfect transferability. On the other hand, the altruism towards future generations together with the transmission of human capital drives the positive relationship. Finally, the model is calibrated to match relevant moments from the Mexican and US, Censuses and used for policy evaluation. First, the long run effect of the Mexican government run Oportunidades program on the average human capital accumulation among Mexican migrants and non-migrants is evaluated. Second, a US government run restrictive policy, intended to make immigration more difficult, is also evaluated. Overall, the evaluation suggests that the Oportunidades program has effects that are more desirable on the migrants selection and the education distribution of Mexicans than restrictive policies.*

Highlights

  • By comparing data collected from the 2000 Mexican and US censuses, I show in this paper that the relationship between human capital, as measured by education, and migration choices among Mexicans is U-shaped: the highest and lowest educated tend to migrate more than the middle educated.[1]

  • The first objective of this paper is to provide an alternative model capable of explaining this particular characteristic of Mexican emigration

  • Mexico offers an unique opportunity for researchers to understand the causes of emigration, because the vast majority of Mexican migrants emigrate to the United

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Summary

Introduction

By comparing data collected from the 2000 Mexican and US censuses, I show in this paper that the relationship between human capital, as measured by education, and migration choices among Mexicans is U-shaped: the highest and lowest educated tend to migrate more than the middle educated.[1] Standard theories of self selection applied to migration fail to explain this puzzle.[2] The first objective of this paper is to provide an alternative model capable of explaining this particular characteristic of Mexican emigration. There is a loss of human capital faced by emigrants, due to imperfect transferability, that is increasing with education. This results in a negative relationship between education and migration. Altruism toward future generations and the transmission of human capital from one generation to the results in a positive relationship.

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